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IF YOU’RE PRIVATE AND YOU KNOW IT, CLAP YOUR HANDS

With Data Privacy Day recently celebrated, it’s a good time to assess what’s still private on the internet (spoiler alert: nothing).

Yes, Data Privacy Day is actually a thing, and it’s been around for a decade already. While the actual date is always January 28, the NCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) hosted events throughout the entire week to create awareness and generate discussion on the topics of “respecting privacy, safeguarding data, and enabling trust,” according to the NCSA website.

To which we at HMA! raise a glass and bray, “Hear, hear!”

It’s a topic dear to our hearts, and frankly, one that should be on the table every day. Over this past year, the US has watched its online privacy rights begin eroding away in the wash of this new administration. Then in December, when the FCC ended net neutrality, the last vestiges of online privacy were pulled away into the sea.

So then, how much of my online data is private?

Are you sitting down? Your ISP does not need your permission to share any of the info it’s collected on you: sites you’ve visited, things you’ve bought, subscriptions you have. It also has your profile and all the data you’ve shared about yourself: name, age, address, the other close-to-home stuff.

Information is king in the digital world. Everybody wants it, from lowlife cybercriminals to online enterprise giants. Every day, millions of trackers are hunting, and your data is the big game. Moreover, ever since net neutrality was deep-sixed, hunting season became a year-round pastime. So repeat after me: nothing is private anymore.

There are two kinds of uses for the info that cyber entities collect on you:

Statistical. Someone who wants to keep their finger on the pulse of real-time, real-world data will happily collect your facts and figures, as you’re a living, breathing statistic.

Predatory. Someone who wants to target you specifically can learn your unique quirks, size you up, and calculate the sneakiest way to infiltrate.

What are you telling me, bro? You trying to make me paranoid?

No … yes. Well, no. Look, whenever you create a new account on any website, there’s a privacy policy that you “read” (mmhmm) and accept. The data you share with that website is only as secure as its privacy policy and security protocols. That’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it will continue to be.

Only now, we need to remind you that there are entities out there that can (and will) lawfully pay top dollar to purchase a few odd facts and details about you. These days, you have to use discretion with what you share and with whom you share it.

All is not lost. We like to think there are still some bastions of decency on the web. Heck, we even like to daydream about a day when regulated sanity returns to our crazy digital world.

In the meantime, you can outsmart the trackers by using HMA! VPN. Hide your IP address, hide your identity, hide your you-know-what. Even your ISP can’t trace you when you use HMA! The freedom of anonymity is a wonderful thing these days.

Check out the NCSA website for more tips. As always, stay smart and safe.